The proposal of the Federation of Young Social Democrats concerns introducing discounted public transport tickets for unemployed people registered with the District Labour Office, as well as free travel on the day they report to the Labour Office.
Several months before the FMS proposal, councillor Leszek Chudzik of the League of Polish Families came forward with a similar idea. He proposed free, rather than discounted, tickets for the unemployed. Even then, the mayor of Bolesławiec responded that the city was not large enough for unemployed people to have trouble reaching the District Labour Office or potential employers.
At the last session, a discussion of the FMS proposal was supposed to take place. The councillors, who are the ones able to decide whether to grant the discounts, appeared to show little interest in the idea. After the mayor presented his view on the matter, they moved on to the remaining agenda items. This displeased the young people from FMS. They were particularly offended by the mayor’s remarks. “We came to the council meeting to review the calculations by the president of MZK and hear the councillors’ position. Instead, we were reprimanded by the mayor, who lectured us on which matters we should and should not deal with,” says Daniel Biernat of FMS. At the same time, he assures that the SLD councillors’ group will now put forward the initiative for discounted tickets.
“I would like the young people from FMS to do something creative rather than focus on how to spend money from the city budget,” says Piotr Roman, mayor of Bolesławiec. “If FMS had approached the municipalities of Bolesławiec County, because it is precisely the people from the county who live far from the office, I would have considered it an idea that was fair in principle. Since FMS is addressing only the city, I believe their proposal has a political motivation,” the mayor adds. Piotr Roman explains that the FMS proposal would cost taxpayers more than PLN 400,000 a year. “I am opposed to handouts; I know many people who are formally unemployed but work somewhere. I know wives of wealthy men who are unemployed. Should they also travel for free?” asks Piotr Roman.
Unemployment in the city has been falling for a year, despite the lack of discounted travel for the unemployed. The FMS proposal was signed by 406 people, or just under 2% of Bolesławiec’s adult residents.